The Dare
by JettaBot
Summary: "I dare you…" Aiden said, "to ask nerd extraordinaire, Oliver Hampton, to the prom". Connor looked over at Oliver. He was writing intently, occasionally pausing to think, tapping his pencil on the bridge of his nose. He saw Oliver notice him, startled like a doe and then quickly focused on his page again. Connor grinned. "Deal".
1. Chapter 1

Connor sat at his desk, bored out of his brain in the middle of algebra. "I dare you…" Aiden said, "to ask nerd extraordinaire, Oliver Hampton, to the prom". Connor looked over at Oliver. He was writing intently, occasionally pausing to think, tapping his pencil on the bridge of his nose. He saw Oliver notice him, startled like a doe and then quickly focused on his page again. Connor grinned. "Deal".

"Hey," he said, walking over once class had finished. "Don't tell me you were actually listening to Mr Keating's lecture?"

Oliver smiled. "I actually find maths kind of interesting. Although the teacher could be better."

"He's not exactly charming. I mean if you were up there teaching, I might actually be able to focus," said Connor, laying it on thick to see the faint pink bloom in Oliver's cheeks.

"Um." said Oliver.

"I'm Connor by the way".

"I know your name," said Oliver, "I'm—"

"Oliver. I know yours too," Connor said, earning a shy grin. "Are you going to prom? Because I was thinking maybe you could come with me?"

"Haha" said Oliver dismissively.

"I'm serious" said Connor, putting his puppy dog eyes on high beam.

"You could have anyone in the school." Oliver said, frowning, suspicious.

_Oh god,_ Connor thought, _I'm going to have to get mushy._

"They're boring. You're smart and interesting and you have this habit of pushing up your big dorky glasses when you get flustered, which is kind of irresistible."

Oliver caught himself moving his hand towards his glasses then hurriedly put his hands on the table.

"_You_ want to go to prom with me?"

"_Yes" _intoned Connor, slightly frustrated. He was not expecting it to be this difficult.

"I would um…I would like that."

"Awesome," he said with a smile. And now for a little extra bonus.

"You're really good at hacking, right?"

Oliver's face fell but he looked resigned to what would come next.

"I'm not bad. What do you need?"

"I was thinking, could you hack into the principal's account, and email the parents saying there's a strike tomorrow?"

"Doesn't seem too hard," he said, turning on his laptop and starting to type, "as long as I don't get suspended."

"I would never let that happen."

"Right, cause you have huge influence over the school board."

Connor smiled at how quickly Oliver jumped from flustered to snarky. He made a mental note to annoy him more often to see this quietly confident self come out.

"I may not, but my father does."

A pause, then "I'm so glad I'm using my skills to help rich, spoiled brats."

"Ok Julian Assange, you can become a hacktivist when you're older, right now you should use your skills for fun."

For the next few minutes, Connor watched Oliver focus on the screen while his fingers flew over the keyboard. _That could be useful._

"How long does this take anyway?"

Oliver looks up guiltily.

"I finished five minutes ago. Let me guess, now it's done, something's suddenly come up and you can't go to prom after all."

"Actually…" said Connor "I was hoping we could use our newfound day off to go on a date?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows, looking like he no longer had any idea what to think about Connor.

"Ok" he said finally.

"Do you want to go see a movie?"

"Sure, which one?"

"You like nerdy things right?"

"You think just because I like computers and have glasses I like "nerdy things"?

"I guess that means you don't want to go see Interstellar?"

"…I didn't say that."

Connor smirked. Oliver was beginning to realise that was more or less a permanent expression for Connor. It was both irritating and irritatingly seductive.

"Give me the number and I can text you the details…among other things."

Oliver could deal with flirting. What he could not deal with was Connor striding that ambiguous line between sexual and innocent, making him unsure if he was reading too much or too little into everything he said.

"Right, like, we can chat."

Connor chuckled a little. He definitely read too little into that one.


	2. Chapter 2

They met at the cinema the next day, Oliver with a slightly soggy bag of homemade buttered popcorn in hand ("It's wildly overpriced at the cinema, Connor"). Connor eyed it dubiously and produced his own bag of lollipops. Oliver couldn't resist the urge to say "that's so _sweet_". Connor rolled his eyes but a small smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. "Come on, we don't want to miss the movie. I've heard it's _stellar_." Oliver opened his mouth in a mixture of real and faux-shock.

"Did Connor Walsh just make a pun?"

"Of course not. Besides you started it."

Oliver grinned, following Connor into the cinema.

"Are you sure you don't want some popcorn?"

Connor looked at the plastic bag offered, a thin layer of dandruff-like salt beginning to layer at the bottom of the bag.

"…I'm good. Are you sure you don't want a lollipop?"

Oliver didn't know if Connor was licking his lollipop _that _way on purpose but he did know that it was distracting and if he had one too and glanced over at the wrong moment…he might end up choking on it. And then Connor would make all kinds of assumptions, with his teasing smile on full display.

"Uh, no thanks."

Connor in fact, did want to help himself to some popcorn but also knew there was a time and a place. And that time was when Oliver was already reaching for some, thus fulfilling the romcom cliché of hands-lightly-grazing. Hopefully that would make for a flustered Oliver.

What he didn't know was that thanks to Connor's lollipop-eating skills the popcorn was rather strategically placed, and hand-grazing turned into Oliver hurriedly removing his hand in shock, scattering popcorn into the air like a particularly meagre snowfall.

"Wow." said Connor. That move usually went over a bit better. "I think this movie's got you on edge."

"Must be." said Oliver in a slightly squeaky voice.

About halfway through the movie Connor tried again. "Hey," he whispered, "I'm going to the bathroom, see you soon?"

Connor waited outside the bathroom for a minute before he realised Oliver definitely wasn't following him. That move usually went over a _lot_ better.

When Connor came back, Oliver gave him a smile and stood up for him to get past. Did Oliver know he was the king of conflicting signals? Connor was confused and rarely anyone confused him. He gave worried little glances over at Oliver, wondering if he had worn the wrong cologne or his hair was something other than perfectly coiffed.

Oliver had little idea of any of Connor's intentions and just thought it was odd that someone would say they were going to the bathroom with a smirk and a whisper then only disappear for a few seconds. And now he was looking increasingly concerned.

"I think this movie has you on edge too," he said, tentatively shifting his hand over Connor's. Connor grinned. What was he thinking_? Of course Oliver liked him. And his hair was always perfect. _

Deciding to take advantage of this upswing in confidence, he smoothly leaned in towards Oliver, raising an eyebrow. Oliver's mouth opened a little and he glanced away shyly for a moment before looking back at Connor under thick lashes.

Connor took off Oliver's glasses, grazed his fingers against his cheek and softly kissed him. They separated for a moment and when Oliver gave him a soft smile, he pulled him into a sweeping, deeper kiss. Soon Oliver's fingers were lacing through Connor's hair and they were taking short little breaths between kisses as Connor kept pulling Oliver towards him.

"Connor?" said Oliver a little breathlessly, about ten minutes later.

"Mhm?" mumbled Connor, still peppering little kisses against his mouth, his chin, his collarbone.

"The movie's over. I think everyone left already."

A small girl with dark black hair and smudged-charcoal-eyes came up.

"Hey, you can have sex in this movie theatre for all I care, but can you lift up your feet? I have to clean up this small avalanche of popcorn."

Connor smirked and Oliver looked embarrassed.

"I never knew watching humanity's bleak search for survival was such a turn-on," she said, sweeping.

Connor grins "Well, when your boyfriend's as insatiable as this guy," Connor said, motioning towards Oliver to see his face redden.

"Connor!"

"Uh-huh," said the girl, distinctly nonplussed, "this popcorn is everywhere; did you try and eat it off each other's' torsos or something?"

"Sorry about that. We'll get out of your hair," said Oliver, dragging Connor out of the cinema.

"Now I'll never know how that movie ends," said Oliver, sighing dramatically and peeking at Connor's smile.

"Maybe we should go back and ask that cheery lady."

"I'm good," Oliver said, taking Connor's hand and hurrying away from the cinema.

Connor spent more and more time with Oliver, going out for lunches, playing video games together, even marathoning Agents of Shield in one sitting (Connor started calling Oliver Skye because, "you're both hackers _and _Tony Stark fangirls" and Oliver pretended to mind while secretly being a little bit pleased ). Once Oliver tried to teach him code, but gave up when he pretended to fall asleep. Whenever Aiden angrily asked Connor why they never hung out anymore, Connor claimed he was too busy studying or getting ready for prom, which was getting nearer and nearer.


	3. Chapter 3

Connor stood outside Oliver's door, straightening his tie a little nervously. Oliver opened the door and grinned.

"Well you look fantastic. I think I'm underdressed."

"You look amazing," Connor said, stepping forward so he was only a few inches away from Oliver.

Then seeing Oliver's mum, he stepped backwards, almost falling over the threshold.

"Are you okay?" asked Oliver, trying to sound concerned whilst failing to suppress his laughter.

After being assured he hadn't broken anything, Oliver said "Connor this is my mum, mum this is Connor, ok we're going now—"

"Not so fast, let me look at my little baby all grown up"

Oliver rolled his eyes and Connor smirked.

"Nice to meet you Connor, I see Oliver has great taste in men."

"Mum!"

Connor just smirked wider.

"Lovely to meet you too Mrs Hampton."

And with that, he was whisked out the door by an embarrassed Oliver.

"Goodbye mum."

"Goodbye sweetie. Oh and I know what goes on at proms, just remember to use protection."

Oliver could not have slammed the door any quicker.

"Sorry about that," he said as they got in the car.

"Oh no, I totally understand. She just wants to make sure her _little baby_ is safe."

"I hate you."

"You love me," Connor said, sweeping him into a kiss.

Connor tried and failed to get Oliver to dance, so instead they talked, (hiding in the corner of the hall after Connor spotted that Wes brought sarcastic cinema cleaner as his date).

"I'm just saying, limos have that screen behind the driver for a reason, he's not going to mind if—"

"I'm not having sex in the back of a car while getting driven around. That sounds trashy."

"It's not sex in the back of a car, its sex in the back of a _limo_. That's basically the classiest thing imaginable."

"I'm telling you, you sound so much like Asher right now."

"Wow. That is cruel. Cruel and unnecessary." said Connor, in mock offence. "Well you sound like Laurel when you say things like "Don't call the cinema cleaner racoon face Connor, its mean."

"Shhh, she might hear you. I sound like our nice, sweet friend Laurel? I can deal with that."

"She's sweet like getting force-fed spoonfuls of sugar everyday."

Oliver laughed.

"Poor you, having to deal with your kind friends."

That was when Aiden came over.

"Wow Connor, you actually did it. Congratulations. Now come hang out with us."

"Did what?" asked Oliver.

"I'm kind of busy right now," said Connor cautiously.

"Did you not hear me?," Aiden said in frustration, "you won, you did the dare. You don't have to keep this up."

Connor spun round to see the realisation dawn on Oliver's face. He swallowed and stared at the floor, clutching his glass.

"I'm an idiot" he said softly

"No, Ollie…" Connor reached out.

"Get away from me," he said, his voice a little stronger, but cracking at the edges. He walked out, without looking back.

"Jesus, Aiden, was that really necessary?" asked Connor

"Oh big deal, you were going to break his heart over the punch bowl anyway, well now I've done it for you."

Connor was silent for a few seconds.

"Oh god, unless you actually like him? Is that who you've been deserting us for all term?" Well good luck with that," Aiden said bitterly, walking away.

Connor walked into the garden, finding Oliver sitting on a bench, hunched over, face in his hands.

"Oliver, it's not –it's not how it seems… I like you, actually"

"Actually?" Oliver asked, looking at Connor in disbelief.

"I mean, I always liked you, the dare was just an excuse for me to ask you out."

"You were so ashamed to like me that you needed to be dared?"

"That's not what I meant-"

"You did your dare, you got your hacker, what else could you possibly want from me? Please, just leave me alone."

"At least let me take you home."

"I'll get the bus," Oliver said and started walking away.

Connor called after him but to no avail. He was left standing alone, stewing in resentment. Aiden was an asshole, but Oliver was overreacting. He would come to his senses eventually. Treacherous pangs of guilt started to mingle with his anger but he brushed them aside. He went inside, hoping the punch was spiked with something very strong.


	4. Chapter 4

Connor's week did not go well. He missed Oliver blushing and smiling. He missed Oliver's doe-eyes and the way he looked at Connor like he was special, like he was more than just sex. He missed Oliver teasing him in a way that most people were too star struck to. He missed Oliver getting passionate about computers, talking and talking until Connor told him his glasses were fogging up. And he even missed dodging pillows whenever he said things like that. He was pining, and Connor Walsh did not pine. He either needed to get over Oliver (which seemed to be an increasingly unrealistic prospect) or get him back.

The next day, Connor came to school with a huge bunch of flowers. He went up to the table where Oliver sat with Bonnie, Laurel and Wes (they had inevitably sided with Oliver).

"Can I talk to you alone?"

"No." said Oliver bluntly.

Other benches surrounded them, with tens of other students. Connor could see Aiden sniggering from a couple of tables away.

"Fine, I'm not ashamed to say it here."

Oliver looked up with a sliver of hope in his eyes.

"I acted like an asshole and I'm sorry, but—I like you…I like you a lot. Please give me a second chance, I—I miss you like crazy. I'll do anything to make it up to you." He said, swallowing nervously as he placed the big bouquet in front of Oliver.

"Well…" said Bonnie, "if you don't take him back, I will."

"Bonnie!" Laurel looked shocked but Oliver just smiled.

"Well I can't let that happen."

"No chance in hell of that happening anyway," said Connor

"Worth a shot." said Bonnie.

There was a pause, then…

"Ok." said Oliver.

"Ok?" said Connor, smiling and sitting next to him.

"I'm not saying I'm not still pissed at you. But I think we can work it out. You may have to make me dinner a couple of times."

"I can do that. Well, I can't do that, but you can teach me how to do that."

"And change your relationship status on Facebook"

"Deal."

"And tell me something about your family or childhood other than "I was the Casanova of primary school"."

"Done. I was a huge band geek. I played the tuba and I would carry it around everywhere in its giant case for about 3 years of school."

"That's the best thing I've heard in days."

At the end of the day, Connor leaned against the gate waiting for Oliver.

"Hey," he said, kissing him. It was only a light peck, to gauge how Oliver felt, but he could feel his heartbeat pick up regardless. Oliver smiled, grabbed him and kissed him back more passionately, his fingers tickling against the base of his neck as he pulled Connor close to him.

"I bet tuba-playing is great practice for kissing."

"I hate you, when are you going to stop bringing that up?"

"You love me. And never."


End file.
